Tiny home sweet home
It may just be the small solution to one of New Zealand’s big problems, and it can cost as little as $50,000.
For two Rotorua families, however, one Tiny House has solved a number of large problems much closer to home.
Father of four Ash Pari and his partner were struggling to find a rental property and found themselves having to take a house Pari admits was ‘‘pretty disgusting’’.
He said the place reeked of ammonia – cat pee suspected as the main culprit – and it was causing allergic reactions among his children.
Pari’s sawmill employers, also owners of Aria’s Farm Holiday Homes, Chris and Kerris Browne saw the situation was becoming intolerable so they stepped in.
They housed Pari and his family in one of their empty rentals, shifting the family around vacant properties on the site of their farmstay, until Kerris decided to investigate the new ‘‘tiny houses’’ phenomenon.
That took her to Katikati and Tiny House Builders’ operations manager Peter Bartlett.
‘‘All the [tiny] houses I’d seen could cope with a couple, maybe one kid too, but we had six people,’’ she said.
Kerris went to work designing her own tiny house, then showed her plans to Bartlett who liked the look of them.
By August, Kerris had her very own ‘‘Tiny House’’ installed at their farmstay with Pari and family taking up residence.
Pari said that while tiny house living comes with its challenges – he is 6ft1 – it’s changed their lives for the better and opened up a brighter future.
‘‘The hardest part is getting rid of things, you have to downsize,’’ he said.
‘‘But you don’t need 50 cups.’’ The money they will save on rent will enable them to look at buying their own home in two years’ time.
‘‘Before this we weren’t even going to consider it,’’ he said.
It’s been better for the kids too. ‘‘We’re settled now,’’ he said. ‘‘The kids are better now they have a home.’’
Their tiny home includes a washing machine, dishwasher, oven and all the typical mod-cons you’d expect in a larger home, including a fullsize shower.
There’s a dining room and screened deck that can double as a living room, and the master bedroom is downstairs.
Upstairs the mezzanine comfortably holds four kids’ beds and cubby holes for storage.
Kerris said their plan is to rent to the Paris for two years before the property becomes an Airbnb rental.
She said the finances around tiny houses make sense for owners as well as renters.
She said a typical rental property costing $350,000 would generate the owner $350 a week, a 5 percent return on investment.
Their new Tiny House – which cost $122,500 – is generating a 9 percent return and saving the Paris $100 a week.
‘‘It allows the tenant to get out of the hole and the owner to make more money.’’
Their notification for Friday’s open home viewing of the property to showcase Bartlett’s work attracted 1500 people interested in attending, something which Kerris said blew her away.
Bartlett, however, was less surprised.
He said he entered the tiny house building market after his daughter asked him to make her one.
A spur of the moment decision to show the house at the Tauranga Home Show convinced him he was on to something.
‘‘We had 1000 people in a day go through over three days. It was unbelievable. Two people wanted to drive away with it there and then, and it’s snowballed from there.’’
It’s taken off to such an extent that Bartlett is trying to recruit extra staff to keep up with demand.
He said he can build a Tiny House in two-and-a-half months for as little as $50,000, and when they’re small enough to fit on wheels they sidestep the majority of the building code requirements – and expenses.
‘‘Nothing to do with council, which is a blessing,’’ Bartlett said.